Deedenow Cinema is a private Afghan film and television production company founded by young Afghan filmmakers and media activists in Kabul. Its mission is to support the work of Afghan film and media workers and communicate its message of freedom of expression, peace and justice worldwide. We produce Afghan Films and assist in all areas of media research and production with the goal of growing an effective media voice for young Afghanistan.

Seeing these two latest posts about the Taliban once again made me write the following paragraphs and my definitions of the Taliban since I have done research about them for making my feature film “The Keys to Paradise” about them and then list some films that were made about the Taliban or depicted the Taliban in some parts although there have been different opinions about the Taliban’s essence.

While many people in the world especially the people of the involved counties in Afghanistan war wonder about the re-empowerment of and the raise of Taliban again after their defeat in 2002 but the inefficiency of the Afghan government that spoils the international efforts in this country is one of the main reasons for this disaster.

The Taliban as the extremist forces in Afghanistan, as the soldiers of God for the other extremists, as an unresolved enigma for the people of the western world so far have been very well known features of insurgence, terror and intimidations to almost every one in the world.

The power of media has had a major role in their introduction to the world.Artists, writers, painters, photographers, cartoonists and caricaturists have all written, drawn, painted or depicted them some how in their own ways.

If you go to Google search you find different sizes of Taliban’s' images and if you want to read about, then there are many links in the internet about them. If you look for them in the shelves of libraries, you can find books that are fully or partly about them.

A short background about the Taliban:The word Taliban is heard a lot and day by day getting familiar to every one and because of the image they have given out, they are recognized by the foreigners sometimes, “the most conservative group” in the softest meaning, the “Pashtoons insurgents” or the “ the Pashtoon rabbles, “the extremists” and finally “the terrorists”. While every one has his own understanding of the word Taliban but still this word brings a fear of terror and intimidation.

But the real meaning of the word Taliban doesn't mean all that what we see today. Taliban is the plural for the word “Talib” that means seeker and the full Arabic word is TALIBULAELM that means “knowledge seeker” that was called to the scholars and religious students or knowledge seekers who were at first mislead by the Pakistani and Saudi Arabians to form a force to conquer Afghanistan.

So, apparently in the middle of the civil chaos in Afghanistan when a group of people of a particular ethnic “The Pashtoons” wanted to have the power first in the south, and then chance of ruling on the others throughout the country, they were supported by drug traffickers and smugglers when the country was already experiencing lack of rule of law, a chaos in the governing, popularity of opium cultivation, than any time before in the country they picked up guns and called the other young semi literate* Talibs or Taliban (who were studying religious lessons in mosques and madrasas in Pakistan) to join them for power and expansion of real Islam which was believed to be the way they themselves followed in the early 1990s while the actual history of their primary essence, rooting and development needs more discussions and we will written more in depth and details in the near future in this blog.

The first group of Taliban was born in southern province of Kandahar by the external support of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in Oct 1994 and then they expanded to Zabul, Helmand, Ghazni and other provinces until they reached in Kabul in Sep 1996 and took the governing power of the country and ruled until 2001 which is all apparent to almost all people of the world.

I am very interested to write how the Afghans or foreign filmmakers have depicted the Taliban in their feature films or documentaries. Although there may have been different documentary and reportage films made by the foreign filmmakers and journalists which some how have been a kind of advantageous media coverage and free advertisement for them but here I would like to list some of the feature films that are made or going to be made about the Taliban or have depicted Taliban partly in them.

The latest film that was going to be made about the Taliban was "The Keys to Paradise" which was stopped in “Development period” while still we are looking for co-producers to support this project and do it the off borders of Afghanistan the soon there are facilities and possibilities to make it.

"The Keys to paradise"Screenplay writer & Director: Mohammad Amin WahidiProduction name: Deedenow Cinema Productions Afghanistan Runtime: 60 minutesLanguage: Dari and PashtoSubtitle(s): English Status: The project was stopped due to security problems of the screenwriter- directorFilming locations: To be rescheduled Synopsis: please see the more details about this film in the link of the post about it.

The first film made after the Taliban about them was the Feature film OSAMA directed by famous Afghan director Seddiq Barmak and was filmed in 35 mm which was financially supported by Japanese and Iranian co-producers. It is to say that this director had “The Opium War” another feature in 35 mm in post production in late 2007 which I don’t know more about.

Synopsis:Osama is a girl who lives with her mother and grand mother in Kabul during the Taliban Regime. The Taliban prohibit the women doctors and her mother has no job any more and can not work in the hospital.Then Osama has to get dressed as a boy to work in a shop for one his father’s friends.One day the Taliban Mullahs take the boys by force to the Madrasas to teach religious lessons and Osama is taken with them.During the lessons of who to take GHOSL “or Islamic bath” for girls and for boys, then the Mullah who teach these lessons realizes that Osama is not a girl but actually is a girl therefore they want to punish her, finally the teacher old Mullah releases her from the court of Taliban and marries the 12 years old Osama while he has already two other wives in the same house.

This film is currently on the screens of the cinemas in which the Taliban are not the main theme but has a review of the overall situation of the country during the Taliban in a long part of it; especially some scenes depicted in this film during the Taliban are; stoning the women, how wildly they behaved with the children, and what kind of people joined the Taliban for different purposes.

Synopsis:This film shows the relation of the Taliban with Pakistan. The main story runs on two Indian journalists who are kidnapped by a Pakistani Taliban soldier in Afghanistan when the Taliban were escaping under the American Air strikes in late 2001. But the film changes its direction and interferes in Afghan ethnic clashes in between the Hazaras and the Tajik fighters rather than the main theme, and for this reason screening of this film was banned by the Ministry of Information and Culture in 2006 in Afghanistan.

Synopsis: This is a pro Northern Alien warlords film and has been made under their strict security and support. This shows the five years resistance of the Northern Alien Warlords against the Taliban. Actually it was one of the three films that I introduced in my cinema show on ATN in 2006 that brought me some messages of threats on that time.

"WITHIN THE MISTS" 2011 backstage photo gallery on Flickr

Licensed by Ministry of Information and Culture of Afghanistan

Licensed by Ministry of Information and Culture of Afghanistan

Licensed by AISA

About Me

A young Afghan of being born in the early 1980s of dictatorship time in Afghanistan, belonging to a generation with many responsibilities on shoulders, having faced with many unjust treatments and social inequalities in the country but still is full of energy, eager to learn as many new things as possible, looking for a nice and just world, always expecting the next day better then the previous one, and believing in possibility of anything to do when a person really wants. After high school studied theatre and cinema for two years in fine arts faculty of Kabul University. Along with university studies, participated in several film and video production courses and workshops, have worked for some Afghan film productions as well as for ATN and Farda Radio in Kabul, and finally established Deedenow Cinema to be able to work more independently but due to serious security risks couldn’t continue working within Afghanistan but still thinks and works for Afghanistan from where ever possible. Should be added that lately got interested in politics as well as in literature along with cinema and film making affairs. Will appreciate your comments and supports of any kind for his activities